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Tantalizing Ossa scrambles · Fri. Jul. 15th - Sun. Jul. 17th

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This trip will focus on scrambling a peak on the tantalus range: Mt Ossa!

We can do this trip either in 2 days with a very long second day, or in 3 days and take our time to summit Ossa. We can decide at the pre-trip meeting how people are feeling.

The plan on the first day: Leave on Friday after/at noon and start hiking at 3 pm. The hike should be around 1500m elevation gain and 15-20km. It should take around 6-8 hours, maybe more. We will camp by a lake so we can have access to water.

If we do the trip in 2 days, we will probable wake up early the next days and try to summit Ossa with a day pack. This part involve scrambling (not too hard, except right before the summit). If you attempt to summit Ossa, the second day would have around 1000m of elevation gain, around 2500m of elevation lost and 20-25km. This day will be a long day since summitting would take about 5-6 hours and going down from the camp would take an additional 4-6 hours (again, maybe more...).

If we do the trip in 3 days, we will summit Ossa the second day. The second day would have around 1000m of elevation gain/loss, and about 5km. Summiting would take about 5-6 hours, maybe more. The third day would be going down from the camp, so 1500m elevation loss, and 15-20km. It would take around 6 hours. It would overall be quite a relax trip.

To get to the summit, we will scramble on a ridge. The scramble is rated as moderate. There is a difficult and exposed section just beside the summit. Even if we don't summit Ossa because of scetshyness, the view from the ridge would probably be awesome already.

This trip is between beginner and intermediate friendly (I don't want absolute beginner). You have to be reasonably fit (fit doesn't mean fast, I am myself not particularly fast... but you have to be able to hike for 10-12 hours a day with an overnight backpack). The route is quite long (headlamp is essential!). Scrambling experience is good to have as well if you want to summit.

Other than normal gear for a hiking trip, we will need to bring an ice axe and a helmet. The ice axe is useful in case we need to self-arrest if we slip down a very steep slope. If you never used an ice axe, it is fine, I will teach you how to use it. We just need to find a gentle safe slope to practice. If you have the chance to do Glacier school beforehand, that would even be better. The helmet is manadatory for the scramble since there are some loose rocks.